Squalane vs squalene: one letter, two oils

Reference: Niki, 2015

What is the difference between squalane and squalene?

Squalene is an oil your own skin makes, and you can find it on the surface of your skin.

Squalane is squalene with hydrogen added. This makes it a steadier oil that does not change as easily in air and light.

That is why squalane is the one skincare uses more.

Reference: Niki, 2015

Reference: Sethi et al., 2016

Say them out loud: squa-LANE, squa-LENE. 😵 Only one letter is different.

Same start, different ending. Always read a name all the way to the end!

One study used a detergent that made skin lose water. A detergent is the cleaning part of a wash.

Adding squalene to it cut that water loss, on rat and human skin. 🧼

That was squalene mixed into a detergent, not a cream left on the face.

Reference: Okuda et al., 2002

Why does one letter matter?

Squalene has double bonds, places in the molecule that can react with light, ozone and air. The oil slowly turns into changed forms.

Squalane, with "-ane", has those spots filled with hydrogen, so it does not change as easily. One letter tells you which oil you are getting.

Reference: Niki, 2015

Reference: Sethi et al., 2016

That is why PERBETE keeps them as two different ingredients, each with its own page: squalane and squalene. 🔍

Mix them up, and you'd be told the wrong thing about the oil in your bottle.

Which one is more stable?

Squalane. It is the hydrogenated form of squalene, so it is much less likely to oxidize, which means to react with oxygen and change.

Squalene oxidizes easily, and on skin, light, ozone and other things turn it into many changed forms. That steadiness is why squalane is the common moisturizer oil.

Reference: Niki, 2015

Reference: Sethi et al., 2016

Reference: Niki, 2015

PERBETE counted. 🧮 On October 19, 2026, its catalogue had 25,597 skincare products with an ingredient list.

3,529 of them listed squalane. Only 89 listed squalene, and 24 listed both.

Is squalane from sharks?

It can be. Squalene is found in large amounts in shark liver oil and in smaller amounts in some plant oils, and squalane comes from squalene.

The ingredient list uses the same name, "squalane", whatever the source. Some brands say the source somewhere else on the pack. If not, ask the brand.

Reference: Kim and Karadeniz, 2012

So the word "squalane" on a list can't tell you if a product is vegan. The brand knows where its squalane came from.

Is either one comedogenic?

No human test of either one is in the studies PERBETE has on file yet. In an old rabbit-ear test, squalane scored 1 on a 0-to-5 pore-clogging scale.

Another rabbit test found that spoiled squalene clogged more than fresh squalene. A later study found rabbit-ear scores did not predict results on people.

Reference: Fulton, 1989

Reference: Motoyoshi, 1983

Reference: Draelos and DiNardo, 2006

"Comedogenic" is a big word for "likely to clog pores". 🫧

Pore-clogging numbers for oils online can come from rabbit-ear tests like these. So it helps to ask where a number came from.

How do you tell them apart on a label?

Look at the end of the word. "Squalane" with an A is the steady moisturizer oil. "Squalene" with an E is the one that changes more easily in air and light.

Both can sit anywhere on the list, and the two words look almost the same, so read slowly. Checking a list with a tool helps too.

Reference: Niki, 2015

A for steady, E for easily changed. 📝 For the skin concern itself, see the dry skin page.

Paste an ingredient list into the checker and each oil shows up with its own page.

Try it on a product you own with the ingredient checker. ✨ For a routine built from your own skin answers, take the free skin quiz.